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The Future of Health IT: medical image exchange in the cloud

In honor of the 7th annual National Health IT Week that began on Monday, we’re joining dozens of other experts in the health IT community in the first ever NHIT Week Blog Carnival to discuss what innovations the next year will bring.

At DICOM Grid, we believe healthcare IT is not just about technology. It is about giving people the tools they need to take charge of their own health. 2013 will go down in history as the year patients took control of their medical data and, even more importantly, their ability to lead a long and healthy life.

We’ve seen technology enable individuals to take back control of other aspects of their lives before. It happened first in the consumer finance industry: online banking and easy-to-access accounts helped people become more responsible for their retirement.

This process is only just beginning in the healthcare industry. Consumer empowerment programs such as the Veterans Administration Blue Button initiative has given patients better access to their medical data. Large insurance companies have started promoting applications like iTriage that help you find answers when you detect certain symptoms.

The next big advancement in this type of application will be the exchange of complex medical imaging by way of the cloud. Here’s our top 5 reasons why more medical professionals will start turning to a cloud-based medical image exchange in the next year:

Quick and easy sharing. Transporting medical images on CDs is a nightmare for hospitals, doctors and patients. Now it only takes a few clicks to instantly and securely share studies between primary care physicians, specialists and patients.

Accessibility.When medical images are stored on the cloud, they can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection.

Mobile device viewing. Studies can be viewed on the go using mobile devices such as iPads, saving doctors precious time when diagnosing and devising treatment options.

Archiving.Now you can always have access to prior studies, which is particularly important for certain fields such as women’s health and mammography.

Security.Cloud-based medical image exchanges created by companies such as DICOM Grid rely on the same type of secure software technology that powers the financial industry and internal hospital systems.

What’s your take on the future of cloud-based medical image exchanges? What other innovations in health IT do you see coming in the next year? Share your take in the comments below!

Catherine Slotnick is a passionate healthcare marketer with a deep interest in the latest & greatest in the Health IT space. As Ambra Health's senior marketing manager, Catherine primarily focuses on creating and sharing thought leadership content in the radiology and informatics space. Catherine graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in Psychology & Art History. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and petting dogs that aren't hers.